Dolphins’ pass defense holds the key to avoiding 0-3

(In case you haven’t seen it, I’ll be conducting a live chat at noon Thursday. To ask a question, click here. Look forward to hearing from you.)

The Dolphins are going to find out right away next season if they’ve answered two of the major question marks on defense this off-season.

If Miami’s secondary isn’t improved and linebacker Joey Porter doesn’t have some help rushing the passer, the Dolphins are looking at a rough start to the season.

In the first three games next season, Miami will face three playoff teams featuring some of the game’s top quarterbacks – the Falcons’ Matt Ryan, the 2008 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year; the Colts’ Peyton Manning, the 2008 NFL MVP; and the Chargers’ Philip Rivers, the AFC’s highest-rated passer last year.

Miami will face Ryan and Rivers on the road.

And unlike 2008, when the Dolphins bounced back from an 0-2 start and were 2-4 at one point en route to the AFC East title, the 2009 schedule doesn’t offer any let-up, making an 0-3 start a potential nighmare scenario.

The Dolphins face only two teams, including Buffalo twice, that had losing records in 2008.

But the toughest month of the schedule might be September, with a Sept. 13 visit to Atlanta, a Sept. 21 Monday Night home game against Indy and a cross-country trip to San Diego to face the Chargers six days later.

“What can hurt you sometimes with the schedule is how it’s positioned,” said TV analyst Charley Casserly, a former NFL executive. “If you open up with murderer’s row there and you stumble, that’s tough.”

To avoid a stumble, the Dolphins’ revamped secondary will have to jell quickly. Newcomer Gibril Wilson should be a significant upgrade on Renaldo Hill at free safety, but cornerback Eric Green will be hard-pressed to replace Andre Goodman, who had team-highs with five interceptions and 19 passes defensed.

Miami returns two solid starters, strong safety Yeremiah Bell and cornerback Will Allen, but also could be working a rookie into the mix, especially if the team uses the No. 25 pick on a cornerback like UConn’s Darius Butler or Illinois’ Vontae Davis.

To take pressure off the Dolphins’ defensive backs, Porter will have get help from his teammates and play like he did last season (career-high 17 1/2 sacks), before suffering a late-season swoon. Porter had only one sack in the final four games, including a playoff loss to the Ravens, because teams figured out how to slide protection his way without fear of someone else wreaking havoc.

Newcomer Cameron Wake, who became a legend with 39 sacks in two CFL seasons, and second-year ends Phillip Merling and Kendall Langford, along with fifth-year pro Randy Starks, need to be able to generate a pass rush next season.

Otherwise, Ryan, Manning and Rivers, not to mention New England’s Tom Brady, New Orleans’ Drew Brees, Houston’s Matt Schaub or Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethleisberger, could force the Dolphins to win in a shootout … not exactly the style of the Chad Pennington-led offense.

A season ago, the Dolphins’ pass defense cost the team a couple of games early and another late in the season.

In a Week 2 loss to the Cardinals, Kurt Warner passed for 361 yards and three scores. Three weeks later in Hourton, Schaub threw for 379 yards yards during a one-point win.

In a 48-28 loss to the Patriots on Nov. 23, New England back-up Matt Cassel had 415 passing yards and three TDs.

Kansas City’s Tyler Thigpen even had a 300-yard day in a close call in December for the Dolphins, who allowed five 300-yard games a season ago and ranked 25th in pass defense.

But the Dolphins were able to overcome it, in part because the team had six wins against teams with losing records last year and played the 21st-toughest schedule in the league.

This season against the NFL’s toughest schedule, Miami’s pass defense will need to be much better or the Dolphins won’t have a chance to repeat as AFC East champs for the first time since 1985.